Here & There

I just finished scrubbing our kitchen floor and call me weird, but I kinda love doing it.  For one, it's good exercise, something I need more of and two, the thought of a sparkling kitchen floor gets me all giddy.  I know, I said you could call me weird.

So, in leiu of writing about how I scrub my kitchen floor or how to get that cleaning solution mixed just right, here are some betters to capture your attention:

Stephanie at Captive the Heart asked me awhile back to give a few thoughts on different things about marriage and married life that she is and is going to post in several blog posts while she basks in the newness of her sweet baby girl.  It's been really fun to take a jog down memory lane and also to read the thoughts of a few other women - thoughts on our wedding dresses, how we tried to incorporate peace into our wedding day (the two usually are tough to meld), and honeymoon stories.  And then of course if you're a sucker for birth stories, you can indulge in part I of Stephanie's while you're over there too.

I've been hankering for a long, flowy tunic for the past few months, one that would be great during pregnancy and beyond.  In fact, Groopdealz just rolled out these and they're only $14.99 plus shipping which is a pretty great price!  But, I really want a few (but I'm on a budget) so imagine my delight when Merrick posted this tutorial on how to make your own!  I can't wait to try it!  I should be able to get a couple made and come in under budget.  :)

I asked a mom's group recently what they'd recommend as far as affordable maternity leggings and their recommendation was a resounding nod to these* from Old Navy.  It was fantastic news for me since I had in my possession a gift card to the place.  So, I went, I bought, and I'm wearing.  And, they're just great!  I got two pairs on sale in-store for $11.95 and I plan on wearing them along with my faux leathers for theee rest of the pregnancy.  Not even kidding.

The grandparents went in with us at Christmas to buy the girls these Vilano bikes*, in pink of course.  I didn't want to write about them until we had tried them out so now that we have, let me tell you, they are great so far!  The girls are at the very beginning stages of learning how to ride a bike so they literally inch along but we're hoping that, by doing the whole balance bike thing vs. training wheels, that they'll be able to be on two wheels and skip those training wheels in several months.  The reason I love this bike is because, when we feel that the girls have got their balance, we'll be able to just install the pedals and go.  We won't have to buy a whole new bike, something we probably wouldn't be able to do financially anyway.  So, if you're on the hunt for a bike for one of your toddlers, I'd recommend these!  They cost just a smidge more than the cheapest training wheels bike we could find but you're only buying one bike so that extra is totally justified, in my opinion.

Last but not least, I feel like I should've done this months ago but, while we were traveling back to my home state of Nebraska over Thanksgiving, I suddenly saw those flashing red and blue lights coming for me for the fourth time in my life.  It was like 1:00 in the morning and I was just coming off this really cool steel bridge and daydreaming about the fact that it felt like I was driving through the twilight zone going over it.  So cool.  But anyway, turns out the speed limit on that cool bridge was 55 and I was going...wait for it...wait for it...SEVENTY-SEVEN.  When the policeman told me that I was shocked and I started to get weak with thoughts of bankruptcy, okay, maybe that's a little dramatic but really, I was picturing a spending freeze for the next year because of this dumb mistake.  So you can imagine my delight and utmost shock when the nice officer came back to my car after running my credentials, handed me back my license and registration, and told me to just be more careful and slow down!!!  I wanted to jump out the window and give him a big 'ole hug but I decided against it since he might've taken is a move of an insane woman and tossed me in the back of his cruiser.  Anyway, here's a shout-out to that police officer.  I have no clue who he was or any way to find out but THANK YOU dude!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...

TGIF

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*Denotes affiliate links to products I purchased.  If you click and/or purchase on these links, these retailers toss a few referral pennies my way at no extra cost to you.  These extra pennies usually go to paying for the gallons of milk we go through every month so thank you!  :)